She did not see her life flashing before her eyes. All she saw were snow and intermittent flashes of blue sky and more snow. Elizabeth felt panicked, unable to stop her forward roll.
She still held on to one pole, having lost the other and both skis. Slamming against one mogul after another, she finally hit one hard enough to stop her. She didn’t remember losing consciousness. Her breath had been knocked out of her, though, and her wrist and back hurt.
“Miss, are you all right?” someone hollered down to her from the top of the trail, sounding far away. A youthful male voice.
She didn’t know how far she’d rolled until she stopped. She thought she’d tumbled all the way to the bottom of the mountain where she couldn’t roll any farther. But no such luck. She was still way up on the very steep incline amid all the bumps, staring up at the blue, blue sky.
Unable to catch her breath, she tried to calm her racing heart.
She wished she could have gotten up quickly on her own, somehow managed to make it the rest of the way down the slope, and none would be the wiser.
Now she was afraid that whoever had discovered her would make a big deal of this.
“Minx, you can’t go down this way,” the kid hollered.
“I’ve been skiing since I was three. I’ll get her camera. You guys go see to her.”
Her camera. Elizabeth tried to turn her head, but her back hurt.
“Come on, Anthony. You know Minx never listens to us. If she breaks her neck, we can say we told her so.”
“Ha, ha, very funny,” Minx said.
The ground vibrated slightly beneath Elizabeth as the boys’ skis swished on the snow, then one stopped way above her, and the other came into view.
“I’m just getting her skis to warn others of danger down the slope, Cody.” Anthony quickly joined Cody, yanked a cell phone out of a bag, and called ski patrol.
They were as tall as grown men, so she figured they were older teens.
Elizabeth closed her eyes, knowing full well Tom would soon get word of this.
“I’m okay,” she said, even though she felt terribly winded. She didn’t feel she’d broken anything, but her wrist hurt. And she couldn’t seem to catch her breath so she could rise to a sitting position.
She wanted to lie here, soak up the sun that the two boys now blocked, and get her bearings. Their faces wore frowns as they looked her over.
“Doesn’t look like she’s got any visible broken bones,” Cody said.
“I secured the area,” Anthony said on the phone. He’d crossed her skis upright in the snow to warn skiers above that a safety issue existed below them.
The boys were gray wolves. She hadn’t seen or scented the girl yet and hoped she wouldn’t get hurt on the slope while looking for Elizabeth’s camera. But she was glad the girl was searching for it and hoped it was all right. At least no one else was on the trail. Thank God.
“I’m all right,” Elizabeth said. “I… just need a moment.”
“Hot damn, she’s a wolf,” Anthony said.
She frowned at him. No one mentioned the wolf word. Or in her case, coyote, either. Not in public.
As if he read her mind, he grinned. “No one around to hear me but us wolves.”
And one part coyote.
“She’s the one Tom must have brought up to the ski resort. All the guys are talking about her,” Cody said. “And the kiss.” He grinned big time. “Cantrell said he caught them on his phone video recorder, but he won’t share unless you pay for it. A few other guys took shots with their cell phones, too. They’re sharing for free, sending emails to the pack.”
Her whole body warmed, and she suddenly felt feverish. She couldn’t believe the word had spread that fast. Or that anyone had bothered to catch their actions on camera. Sure, she knew that a pack shared information to protect themselves, but still… She thought Tom had been exaggerating.
“Where do you hurt?” Cody asked, crouching down in front of her.
Everywhere. She would be fine once she got off this black slope, if trying to ski downhill didn’t kill her.
“She’s having trouble concentrating, unable to answer questions,” Anthony said into his cell when Elizabeth didn’t answer right away. “She’s the one Tom brought up here.” Anthony grinned, put his hand over the phone, and said, “You’re a celebrity. You’ll have the entire ski patrol checking you out.”
With mortification, she felt like she was having a hot flash, and she was sure she could melt the mogul she rested against into a puddle of water.
“I’m fine,” she said, trying to sit up. “I’m not having trouble concentrating. Just breathing.”
“No, just lie still,” Cody said, his hand on her shoulder. “You might have a spinal injury.” He turned to the other boy. “And tell them she has shortness of breath.”
“I hurt my wrist a little, and I feel a little sore. I’ll be fine if I can just get down the slope.” Actually, at this point, if she could just get up. “I’m not having any trouble breathing,” she amended. She shouldn’t have said she hurt anywhere.
“Did you get all that?” Anthony asked, and she realized that as she spoke to Cody, Anthony must have held the phone nearer to her so that she would give the information directly to the ski patrol. “Okay,” Anthony said to Cody. “Don’t let her move an inch.”
She rolled her eyes.
Cody smiled at her.
“I found her camera!” Minx called out from the woods.
Elizabeth breathed a little sigh of relief, though she still worried the camera might be damaged.
“Ski patrollers are on the way,” Anthony said.
Great. She hoped they didn’t include Tom.
***
“Yard sale!” a couple of skiers yelled out from the lift. Tom skied down the slope and saw an unfamiliar woman wipe out, losing her ski poles and skis all over the place.
Tom retrieved the two lost skis when pack members Cantrell and his brother, Robert, joined him, carrying the woman’s ski poles.
“She’s hot, man,” Cantrell said to Tom. The two of them grinned at him as they skied down to the lady getting to her feet and brushing the snow off her goggles.
He raised his brows at them, asking in a silent way who they were referring to.
“Not the woman that just rag-dolled down the slope,” Cantrell said. “You know. Elizabeth.”
They reached the lady who had fallen, and Tom asked, “You all right, ma’am?” He handed her the skis, and Robert gave her the ski poles.
“Yes, thank you. I’m fine.” Her cheeks were red from the weather or from embarrassment. She seated her boots on her skis and took off.
“I asked her to lunch,” Robert said. He and his brother skied with Tom to the next lift. “Elizabeth. She said she would be busy.”
“With me.” Tom hated to sound so territorial. She wasn’t really with him. But after that kiss, he was rethinking that scenario.
Cantrell laughed. “Yeah, she said so.”
Tom smiled a little at that.
When the pack leaders invited a wolf to their home for dinner, that was usually the ultimate boon to any wolf’s ego. Except Elizabeth’s. Tom wondered why she seemed reluctant.
“Man, you guys get all the good ones,” Cantrell said.
The trouble was that fewer female werewolves were born, so there seemed to always be a shortage. Not that he expected to set up housekeeping anytime soon.
“How did you learn about her?” Robert asked.
As if the Silver brothers had a pipeline to learning about available females. Although he supposed Bertha was that for him this time.
Tom got a call on his radio from ski patroller Kemp. “Gotta come quick. Devil Man’s Switchback.”
“Whatcha got?” Tom got ahead of those waiting in the ski line and was promptly
seated on a chair.
“The lady you brought to the resort?” Kemp said.
Tom’s mouth went dry, and he tightened his hand around the radio. Elizabeth was probably not injured that badly, but since she had been with Tom, Kemp had most likely taken the situation more seriously than warranted.
At least Tom prayed it was so. “Yeah, what happened?”
“She says she’s okay.”
Tom sat on the edge of his chair, unsure whether to be concerned or not. “But?”
Kemp cleared his throat.
“Just spit it out, Kemp,” Tom said. “What’s happened?”
“Vitals look good, but the Woodcroft twins saw her first and called it in. They both say she was knocked out. She denies it, but she probably wouldn’t remember.”
That didn’t sound good. “Is she answering your questions with full clarity?”
“Yeah. I’ve called for my brother to bring up a toboggan. She doesn’t want to use one. You know… she’s all alpha.”
Tom smiled a little at that. Yeah, he already knew that about her.
“You know how it is. Someone can have no memory issues for hours or even days, and suddenly they have a problem. No visible injuries to her head, though.”
“She goes down in the toboggan. Any other possible injuries?” Tom asked.
“Wrist might be sprained—she was still holding on to one of her ski poles. She’ll probably be a little bruised but otherwise fine.”
“What exactly happened? Just take a spill?”
Kemp paused, then said, “She says a guy shoved her down the slope on purpose.”
Tom frowned. More likely an out-of-control skier, though if the guy regularly skied the black slope, maybe not. “Did she get a look at him?”
“She gave me a get-real look, Tom, when I asked her the question. You know, because she was falling down the mountain—in an unglamorous way—her words, not mine. I couldn’t imagine her ever looking unglamorous.”
“Just help me up,” she said in the background, sounding totally pissed.
Tom smiled at hearing her dictatorial tone. “Just keep her down until I get there.”
Chapter 5
When Tom reached the expert slope, he saw Elizabeth’s skis placed in an X several yards above. All he could see down below were three male backsides as they hovered over the injured she-wolf.
Anthony, Cody, and Kemp.
Tom greeted them as he reached their location, praying all of this was overkill. Wolves were territorial by nature, and they’d staked their claim over the she-wolf, even if she was older than the teens. When he could maneuver around the others to observe the patient, he saw one annoyed looking she-wolf scowling up at him. He frowned, still worried she might be injured worse than she claimed.
Tom moved closer to where she rested on her back against a mogul, the wind whipping the snow about. The white fake-fur-trimmed hood surrounded her face. A black half balaclava covered her mouth and nose, making her appear ninja-like. Her eyes were narrowed at him, her ski goggles pushed up onto her ski hat.
“What happened?” Tom asked, crouching down to speak with her.
She pulled the balaclava down with her right hand.
“I’ll be all right,” she said breathily, as if she was having a hard time breathing or the pain was affecting her.
She might be all right, but Tom’s heart pumped way too fast. “Kemp said you probably have a mild wrist sprain.”
“Yeah.” Her breathing was shallow.
Tom thought maybe she wasn’t used to the thinner air and was suffering from hypoxia, or altitude sickness. Or possibly she had a broken rib that had collapsed a lung.
“Do you need oxygen? Having trouble breathing?” Tom asked. “Ribs hurt?”
“No.”
He didn’t trust the patient completely. He’d seen a case a week ago where a twenty-three-year-old hot dog had claimed he was okay, but his vitals had deteriorated rapidly. Tom had him medevaced out only to learn later that the skier had ruptured his spleen. Another was the case of a forty-five-year-old man who looked unsteady after he said a snowboarder had run him over. He swore he just had to catch his breath, but when he couldn’t, Tom had the ambulance take the man down to the hospital. Tom heard later from Doc Weber that the patient had suffered a mild heart attack.
“Vital signs?” Tom asked Kemp.
“Her signs are good,” Kemp said.
“Okay, good.”
“I found her camera,” Minx said. Tom looked that way, surprised that the teenaged girl was here, too. Not that he should be, since she was friends with the boys. She must have been in the woods next to the expert trail, searching for the camera. A couple of pine needles clung to her bright green ski hat, the pink and white pom-poms swinging from the ties as she tried to make her way down the steep incline to reach them. Snow clung to the camera.
“You were taking pictures when it happened?” Tom asked Elizabeth. When he’d learned she was on this slope, he had assumed she must be an expert skier.
“Yes.” She gritted her teeth, trying to mask that she hurt.
“Was anybody with her at the time?” Tom asked.
“No, she was alone,” Kemp said.
“Did anyone see what happened?”
She gave Tom an irritated look. She must have had her back to the skier and couldn’t see what had occurred.
“Two panting males saw her,” Kemp said, a lighthearted tone to his voice.
Anthony and Cody chuckled.
Tom liked Kemp because he always had a sense of humor. It also meant that Elizabeth must be in good shape, no really bad injuries, or he would be ultraserious.
As a lupus garou, she’d heal well on her own. Unless she had spinal injuries or bleeding that couldn’t be stemmed, she should be all right.
Kemp moved over to allow Tom to get closer. Kemp’s twin brother, Radcliff, skied down with the toboggan. He had darker blond hair than Kemp, and his eyes were a lighter amber. Both men were in great shape because they served on the ski patrol regularly each season and had all the women swooning when they shared smiles with them.
Tom checked over Elizabeth’s vital signs himself. They looked good.
“I’m fine,” she said, still frowning at him. “Go help someone who really needs your assistance.”
“It’s noon and I’m off the clock. We still have that lunch date.” Tom could imagine the boys taking notes on how to court a wolf. “You’re going down by toboggan. We have several other patrollers at the resort, so no problem there.”
“Except that you should have heard the flurry of ‘I’m coming,’ no matter how far away the other patrollers were stationed,” Kemp said, grinning.
Tom could imagine, even if they were joking.
“Fine. Get me down to the base so that the whole slope isn’t crowded with onlookers. I can’t believe you’re making that big a deal of this,” Elizabeth groused.
She didn’t know how much so until they placed a neck collar on her, strapped her to a board, and clamped an oxygen mask in place. She didn’t have to say a word for Tom to know she was pissed. He wasn’t taking a chance on her being injured further.
Peter Jorgenson, their local sheriff and a good friend of Tom’s, skied up behind them, and Tom wondered what he was doing up here.
“Okay, guys, move back and give us some room.” Tom meant Cody and Anthony, but when they didn’t budge, he said a little sterner this time, “Cody, Anthony, move.”
The wolves shuffled carefully away, avoiding sliding down the sharp embankment.
“So, Peter, what are you doing up here?” Tom asked as the sheriff motioned for the teens to shift further out of the way.
Peter seemed just as intrigued with the she-wolf and didn’t move to vacate the area himself. The slope was treacherously sheer here, and they all stood on
the sides of the moguls to keep from sliding down the icier sections.
“Took a breather while it’s quiet in town. Deputy Sheriff Trevor’s holding down the fort.” Peter tilted his Stetson back, his dark sunglasses hiding his dark eyes, his forehead creased in a frown.
Kemp had pressed ice against Elizabeth’s wrist. Tom brought out an elastic bandage and wrapped it around her wrist to prevent swelling. He made a sling to keep her arm close to her body, her wrist elevated and protected. “Were you holding on to your ski poles when you fell?” Kemp asked.
She nodded.
“Always let them go. More wrist injuries occur when skiers hang on to their poles during a fall.”
“Your camera,” Minx said, sliding on the icier sections as she tried to reach them.
Anthony grabbed her arm before she fell.
Tom and Kemp lifted Elizabeth onto the toboggan. Tom wrapped the blanket around her and strapped her in, while Radcliff went back up for her skis. Once Tom had retrieved her ski poles from Cody and the skis from Radcliff and strapped them on the toboggan, Minx set the camera on Elizabeth’s stomach.
“Here,” Tom said to Elizabeth. “Let me secure your camera.” He hoped it hadn’t been ruined in the fall. Jake might loan her one of his so she could complete her story, if she could still ski later before she had to return home, but Jake was possessive about his photographic equipment. He might offer to take pictures for her instead.
Tom turned to everyone standing there. “So tell me, what happened? Anyone know? Who reported her injury?”
Anthony poked the tips of his ski poles into the mogul. “She was taking a picture at the top of the trail, I guess. We saw someone speeding across the connecting trail in front of us. He skied really fast and sliced the turn too short. I thought maybe the guy was out of control and accidentally hit her. I figured we’d see him in a heap down the slope somewhere, too. When we reached the trailhead, he had zipped down to the bottom as fast as humanly possible, and she had tumbled down the hill. Her arm flew out, and she cried out. She looked like she tried to stop her fall, but she hurt her wrist instead. She rolled until she stopped at the mogul.”