by Terry Spear
Allan was silent for a moment, then he said, “In the lake?”
“Yeah, all along. After all the rabid wolves had been killed, we searched for him everywhere, but no one thought he would be in the lake. Do you want to help me bring the bones up in the morning?”
“Hell, yeah.”
Paul explained what he assumed had happened as he walked to the end of the dock, then stared out at the dark blue water. He wondered if he and Allan would have found Lee Greypaw while diving together here near the end of their vacation.
“Emma will be glad to know the truth after so many years of not knowing,” Allan said. “How’s Lori holding up?”
“She’s saddened, of course. But glad he had a fighting chance and died a warrior’s death.” Paul left the dock, picked up the pistol and the hatchet, and headed back to the house.
Allan sighed. “Wish we had gone scuba diving there some years back.”
“Yeah, me too. Who would have thought we’d find anything important there? We’ve always gone to the sites where other divers have reported special finds.”
“I agree. We’re going to have to be sneaky about retrieving the bones.”
“Yeah, figured we’d go at first light. Most folks aren’t out on the lake that early. No one should really know what we’re up to anyway—the lake’s big and the property is secluded.”
“Sounds good to me. Are…you about done with the other chores?” Allan asked.
“About that…I’m going to be up here for a while longer. We need to put sealant on the deck, trim back some tree branches overhanging the deck, clear some of the wood and underbrush along the dirt road to the cabin, and some other things.”
“What have you been doing all this time?” Allan asked, sounding a little surprised Paul had so much work left to do.
“Painting, buying new furniture…diving for Lori’s necklace.”
“You’ve been doing what with the furniture?”
He knew Allan would wonder about that. “Emma wanted a new couch and chairs for the living room at the cabin.”
Processing it, Allan didn’t say anything for a moment. “Sooo, why the new furniture?”
“It was old. It needed to be replaced. Why else would she need it?”
“No one hardly ever goes up there.”
“So?”
“Well, sounds like someone’s setting up house.”
“Maybe she’s thinking of renting it out for visitors to the area,” Paul said, having given that some thought. “She could make a good income.” Though she’d never done so in the past.
Allan laughed. “Hell, it’s…okay. See you in the morning.”
“It’s…what?” Paul asked.
“Emma’s pairing the two of you up. She’s giving you the fixings for your new nest and it won’t—”
“We’re wolves, not birds.”
“Den, then. See you later.”
Paul had considered that scenario, but he couldn’t believe Emma would really think something like that would work. Getting Lori and him together so they could get to know each other better, sure. But actually setting up a household for them? Nah.
He called Catherine then and let her know about Lee Greypaw, afterward calling Emma. He wanted to talk to her after Lori did and make sure she was all right.
“Thank you,” Emma said, her voice strained. “I can’t thank you enough, Paul.”
They talked for several more minutes, and then she said she needed to talk with Catherine about arrangements. “See you tomorrow then.”
They ended the call and he ran up the steps to the deck. When he opened the door to the cabin, he smelled chicken wings frying. He took in a deep breath of the lemon-and-pepper seasoning. He definitely could see the benefits of sticking closer to home: enjoying home-cooked meals and sleeping in a comfortable bed. Plus he didn’t have to run through the jungle to save a life and ensure he and his teammates weren’t injured during a mission.
As if on cue, Hunter called him. Paul shut the door to the house and sat down on the new sofa, certain this had to be about another mission, despite the fact that they were on vacation. “Yeah, what’s up, Hunter?”
“Got a mission for you and Allan, if you want it. I know it hasn’t been that long since the last one and that you’re on vacation, but you know the rest of us aren’t available right now.”
As if Lori knew what the call was about, she walked into the living room, drying her hands on a kitchen towel, and said, “You can go, if you need to. I can take care of everything on Emma’s list. You just need to do what you need to do.”
She looked so stoic standing there, still drying her hands that had to be well dried already. He knew she didn’t want him to go and he wasn’t about to.
He cleared his throat and said to Hunter, “I’ve got a really hot mission here I’ve got to take care of.”
Lori frowned at him. He smiled at her.
“Hell, it’s about time,” Hunter said. “Let me know if you need the SEAL team for anything. We’ll be packing and heading that way.”
Paul chuckled. “Will do. Talk to you later.” He ended the call with Hunter. “Chicken wings smell great.”
“You don’t have to feel obligated to stick around here if someone needs rescuing.” Lori stalked back into the kitchen, sounding annoyed that he wouldn’t leave.
Was this a reversal of Lori’s avoidance? He realized that this was all about his job. He left her behind all the time. Now that he was here and had no intention of leaving—well, not until after Allan’s and his vacation were done—was this a new way for her to try getting out of…
He pondered the conclusion he’d been reaching before he joined her in the kitchen.
…a relationship with a very interested wolf?
* * *
Lori didn’t want Paul to feel obligated to stay because of Emma’s to-do list. He’d already done plenty for them. After he’d discovered her grandfather’s bones and her necklace, nothing else mattered. It would be easier if he just left, before she started feeling like this was meant to be—together at the cabin, enjoying meals and sunsets, running in the woods as wolves, working on projects together, picking huckleberries like they used to do as kids, and…kissing.
She served the meal while he set the table. “What was the mission?” she asked, curious why he would have turned it down, thinking it couldn’t be that serious if he didn’t agree to go.
He took his seat. “I didn’t ask.”
In total surprise, she stared at him a little too long.
He shrugged. “I’m on vacation.”
Without approval, her mouth curved up a little. “You are a hot SEAL wolf.”
“Thank you.”
She noted he was trying hard to keep a straight face. “I mean,” she said, tilting her chin down to let him know she was being perfectly serious, “I can’t see you turning down a mission when someone could need rescuing. How could you not ask what it was all about?”
“It’s like I told Hunter. I have a hot mission here that needs to be taken care of.”
She frowned at him. “You’re not being serious.”
“Like hell I’m not. There’s always a situation going down. And there are others who contract out to do what we do. We’re not the only ones available for this sort of thing, whatever it was. But if we don’t get some downtime, we’ll be worthless. Besides, I’ve already signed up for this job and here I’m staying.”
He sounded serious, but she couldn’t believe it.
“You didn’t exactly sign up for it,” she said, still feeling guilty that she hadn’t sent word that Catherine and Emma planned to put him up for auction.
But some part of her knew he’d do it even without having been asked, and another part of her said she wanted to visit with him this time, to see if maybe she could change his mind
about what was important to him. Not that she had any intention of chasing after him. If he wanted to stay because it was his idea, then she’d be happy about it. She knew it could never work out well between the two of them any other way.
“You’re right,” he said. “If Catherine had asked, we would have done so anyway. You know I would have helped Emma out with this stuff no matter what. All she had to do was ask.”
Lori knew he would have too. “You come home to have a vacation. There was no way she’d normally ask you to do a bunch of work for her.”
“Working on stuff like this is fun.” He cast her a sexy smile that hinted at liking something more than just the work, then shrugged. “I don’t mind it at all. It gives me more focus. Besides the pack obligation,” he continued, slanting a look her way that was roguishly sensual, “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world but here right now.”
Right now. Not as in forever. Well, maybe not with her either, but just here, in this place.
“Damn, you’re a good cook.”
“You do a great job painting,” she said, glancing back at the wall.
“Thanks. Can’t say I’ve done much painting before. But it’s kind of relaxing.”
Again, she thought of him and his last mission. She sighed. He needed this, she supposed. He probably preferred staying busy to sitting on the deck and staring out at the lake, which would have given him more time to brood over what had gone wrong on the mission. He was a doer, not a couch potato.
Then again, that was part of his trouble: keeping busy instead of dealing with his issues.
They finished eating, and he looked like he had thoroughly enjoyed the meal. She loved to cook, so she was glad he wasn’t picky about what she fixed.
“I’ll clean up the dishes, if you want to get the trimming tools out of the storage building.” She grabbed up their plates.
“Sure. And then later, we could watch the sunset.”
She stared at him. She didn’t believe he’d want to watch the sunset with her on a regular basis. If she kept sitting with him and watching sunsets, and swimming with him, and kissing him while he was turned on in that hot wet suit, she was going to lay claim to him and declare that he couldn’t leave. Forget letting him decide what he wanted to do with his life.
Now how would that be for alpha posturing?
She smiled to herself over the notion. Wouldn’t he be surprised?
“Yeah, sure.” She collected the rest of the dishes and cleaned up while he headed outside.
She had just finished putting away everything when gunshots sounded in the distance in the national forest. Her heart gave a little skip. Wolves, even if they were lupus garous, always were wary of the sound of gunfire.
She expected to hear Paul on the deck with the clippers and garden gloves. She should have known he would be back to his SEAL self.
He stalked inside. “I’m going to take a look and see what’s going on.”
“Do you think someone is in trouble?” Lori asked.
“Maybe. There shouldn’t be any hunting right now.” Paul headed for the bedroom and changed into jeans, hiking boots, and his bright palm-tree shirt, then headed out of his room. “I don’t have anything else that is bright enough to wear to ensure I’m visible to the shooter.”
“I’m going with you.”
He nodded, and she was a little surprised he’d agreed. But if someone was fighting off a bear, he might need her help.
“Have you got something bright to wear?” Paul asked.
“A neon-pink T-shirt.”
“Why don’t you wear that so the hunter doesn’t think you’re prey? If it is a hunter and not just someone in trouble.”
“That was just what I was thinking.” After she changed into jeans, boots, and her colorful shirt, Paul armed himself with a gun and knife—which made her think of the invasion of Catherine’s house—and they quickly headed out of the cabin and made their way through the forest.
After a fast twenty-minute run, they heard a man moving about in the underbrush ahead of them, hidden by the foliage.
“Hot damn,” the hunter said to himself, but with their wolves’ hearing, both Lori and Paul heard him before they could even see him.
What instantly irked Lori was that the man didn’t sound like he was in danger. That was about to quickly change.
Alerting Paul, she pointed out fresh bear scat—larger than a black bear’s, which meant it was a grizzly’s. Paul nodded.
Armed with a rifle, the hunter was dressed in camouflaged clothes, his hat shoved on his short-cropped, rusty-colored hair. He was headed for trouble as he stalked toward the large, dead bull elk.
“The bear could be anywhere,” Lori whispered to Paul as they hid in the woods, watching the hunter. Even without seeing the bear, she was certain it had to be in the vicinity and would claim the fresh kill for its own as soon as it smelled the blood. Like wolves, bears had great hearing and scent capabilities.
The hunter wasn’t wearing anything bright, she assumed because he wasn’t worried that others were out illegally hunting and might shoot him by accident. But what if others were being asses, just like he was?
“The hunter is putting himself in real danger,” Paul said.
“We can’t call out to him or the bear will be alerted that we’re here, if he doesn’t already know.”
Paul agreed. “I can run faster as a wolf. I’ll shift.”
Lori started stripping. “But the hunter is liable to shoot us.”
“He’ll be too concerned with protecting himself from the bear, which will show up when I distract the hunter.”
“You mean we’re going to be the bait.” She ignored the part about how he intended to do this alone.
Paul jerked off his shirt. “I don’t want the bear to see you. If he makes his appearance, you return to the cabin.”
“We work as a team—as a pack,” Lori said with finality as she finished removing her clothes and shifted.
Chapter 11
“Hell, Lori.” Paul yanked off the remainder of his clothes as he spied the bear headed through the woods toward the fresh kill and the unaware hunter.
In her wolf form, Lori was watching the situation with the bear and the hunter, her tail still, her whole posture in eager readiness as she waited for Paul to give the signal to rescue the man.
“Watch out for the bear!” Paul shouted. “At one o’clock.”
The man spun around to see the bear standing tall on its hind legs. The hunter tried to get off a shot, but his rifle jammed.
“Whatever you do, stay calm,” Paul called out, still hidden in the trees and the brush. Lori remained near him, ready to take the heat off Paul if the bear charged him instead of the hunter. Paul couldn’t move toward the man or cause the bear to see that as an aggressive action. “He’s curious about you, checking you out. Don’t run. Wave your arms and speak in a loud voice. Stand your ground. But if you can’t, back away slowly, diagonally. Don’t look him directly in the eye. That shows your aggression.”
He hoped the hunter would just stand his ground. The bear huffed and popped its jaws. Then it suddenly dropped down on all four paws and slapped the ground.
“Steady, man,” Paul said. The hunter looked like he was about to have a heart attack.
Suddenly, the bear charged the hunter.
“Don’t run! It could be just a bluff!” Though bears were unpredictable, if they were predatory, they often gave no warning of an attack and just…charged. But protecting its food, no matter whose kill it was to begin with, could make the bear behave in a much more aggressive manner. Still, running from the bear was not a good idea.
The bear veered off at the last minute, at the same time that Paul shouted, “He’s bluffing. I’m sending my pet wolves to distract him. So don’t shoot the wolves, or you’re on your own. Get t
he hell out of there as soon as the wolves go after the bear.”
Hoping the poacher didn’t un-jam his rifle and shoot them, Paul shifted. Lori and he raced toward the kill, startling the hunter, though he had to realize they were Paul’s “pet” wolves, as they came from the same vicinity that he had hollered from. Paul hated that Lori was with him though. As big as the grizzly was, either of the wolves could easily be killed in an instant.
He was used to SEAL-type missions where, alongside his teammates, he fought the bad guys in human form. He’d fought wolves, well, lupus garous, when protecting Hunter’s pack. But Lori had little experience with this sort of thing. Not that he’d done it more than once either.
They snarled at the bear, distracting him from the man, hoping the hunter was backing away and getting out of there. Paul and Lori had to remain focused on the bear and hope that they wouldn’t be injured in the process.
The bear charged Lori and she made a hasty retreat through the woods. Grizzlies and wolves could run at the same average speed of thirty-five miles per hour, so no advantage for the wolves there, though they could turn quickly. And she was doing a terrific job of it—dodging between trees, using hairpin turns.
The bear’s strength could be the deciding factor if he caught her.
His adrenaline pumping through every vein, Paul chased after him, growling, snapping, and snarling, getting way too close to the bear for safety’s sake, trying to draw the bear’s attention away from Lori. The grizzly suddenly swung its massive body around to fight Paul. His heart doing a double take, Paul twisted around and headed in a different direction, running full out. He swore he’d never run from anything so fast in his life.
He just hoped Lori didn’t chase after the bear again to get him off Paul’s back. He figured she wouldn’t have any run left in her. Not enough to stay ahead of the bear for another round of the chase. Even Paul was quickly wearing out. But like Lori, he was running away from the kill. The farther he distanced himself from it, the more likely the bear would stop following him.
The bear was huffing and snorting as he ran after Paul, but finally ended the chase when they were far enough away from the kill. Because Paul didn’t hear Lori growling at the bear, he figured she was off somewhere safe now. He was glad for it.
