by Terry Spear
But when Aidan had to stitch him up after a wolf fight, Rafe didn’t tease him anymore.
When they entered the store, Aidan remembered how much he disliked shopping in stores, instead purchasing what he needed online. He and his bodyguards made their way shoulder to shoulder through the crowds. He hadn’t expected to see so many people at the mall, but he reminded himself it was Saturday and getting close to Christmas. Normally, he wouldn’t go shopping at a mall for anything this time of year.
The trio made their way through the noise and confusion, noticing all the shops adorned with Christmas decor. Aidan had ordered everything else for the family for Christmas, but he’d wanted to pick up some special things for his nephew and had waited too long to do it online.
The mall in Lynnwood was only seventeen miles from Seattle. It was entirely possible they might run into some of the Seattle pack members.
“Hope we don’t have any trouble.” Ted was eyeing everyone in the mall as if they could be potentially dangerous gray wolves.
Aidan was ready to deal with them if he and his bodyguards had to. He suspected the Seattle wolves wouldn’t make much of a scene at the mall though—too many shoppers, too many witnesses. And none of them would want to be hauled off to jail.
“You’re sure the info about the banished wolf living up here is still valid?” Mike asked, poking around at some Christmas sweaters on a table. “I guess I should have asked this earlier. Everett Johnston left the Seattle pack a while ago.”
“The pack’s doctor told Everett’s sister that she’s looking for him, but she hadn’t found him. We can’t know for certain, not until we investigate a bit, but I have to check on any leads I get.”
When it came to solving puzzles, Aidan quickly became obsessed.
If humans had known about it, they might have thought it was a boon for the wolf shifters to age so slowly, one human year for every thirty, and although that had changed to one year for every five, the wolves were still just as fortunate. But the wolves’ lengthy longevity had been their normal life span. How would humans see it if they suddenly aged more rapidly to such a degree? They’d feel the same pressure to do something about it.
Mike ran his hand over a suede jacket on a rack. “Are you still getting tons of emails and phone calls from pack leaders, asking what you’ve learned because older family members are dying much younger?”
“Yeah, more of late.”
“You know, even if we find Nick, he might not want to give a blood sample or care anything about our longevity issues,” Mike warned as they headed into one of the larger department stores. “Especially since he’s lost his mate.”
“Yes, I agree, Mike. There’s no guarantee that we’ll find him or that he’ll want to help. But if I can offer him help, I’m going to. If he wants to help us, I’m all for it.”
As wolves, their sense of smell was better than humans’. Everything was bombarding Aidan all at once, from the smell of humans—colognes, perfumes, body odor—to the stacks of Christmas spice candles sitting on a tall shelf nearby. Their wolf hearing was better too, and the Christmas music playing overhead and the constant chatter all around Aidan made him long for the quiet of the Wilderness.
Looking around for the toy section, he saw Santa and a long line of kids waiting to give him their Christmas lists. Aidan paused for a moment and watched as a boy about the age of his three-year-old nephew, Toby, sat on Santa’s lap, looking up at the white-bearded man. Aidan wondered if Rafe and Jade would take Toby to see a Santa too. His brother’s life had changed so much recently—going from billionaire bachelor to mated wolf with a kid—but in a good way.
Aidan glanced around and saw the toy department nearby. “I’m going over there to look for gifts,” he told his bodyguards.
Mike was eyeing the cute Santa’s helpers in their green-and-white-striped tights, red tutus, and striped elf hats.
“Yeah, we’ll be right here.” Ted turned to watch the elves too, especially a cute redhead.
Aidan chuckled under his breath.
He and his brother didn’t have a pack, per se, but since Jade and his brother had mated and were raising Toby, all of them—Rafe’s bodyguards, his administrative assistant, and Aidan—had started seeing themselves as a pack. Rafe and Jade had become their de facto leaders.
Everyone watched out for the boy, who, unlike the rest of the wolves, was newly turned, though he had some wolf roots. That meant Toby kept them on their toes, especially when the full moon was out. With other young wolves, the mother’s shifting compelled the child to shift, but it didn’t work like that with Toby. He didn’t have a lot of control over his shifting.
Aidan looked through the toys, wanting to get Toby a kid’s microscope or other scientific equipment. That’s what he would have liked as a kid that age, though they didn’t even have toy stores where he and Rafe grew up. And nothing like science toys for kids either. A large stuffed wolf caught his eye. He didn’t think Toby would have space in his bed to sleep if Aidan bought him any more stuffed animals.
He reached for a hundredth-anniversary tin of Lincoln Logs and spied a kit for preschoolers that claimed to be a first science kit. He also saw a junior microscope, a 3-D solar system, and a puzzle of the phases of the moon. Wishing department stores like this one had shopping carts, he was grabbing the tin of Lincoln Logs when he heard a woman and teenage girl frantically yelling, “Joey! Joey!”
From the sound of panic in the women’s voices, Aidan was certain the boy had gotten away from them, and they couldn’t locate him in the crush of shoppers. Instantly, his thoughts were transported to a much earlier time when he’d become separated from his parents and brother on a visit to the Gold Rush town of Placerville when they went in for supplies. Fortunately, one of the grizzled old miners had taken him in hand, bought him a root beer, and helped him look for his family. Because of that, Aidan knew how it felt to be separated from loved ones in a crowd of unfamiliar people.
Worse, fearing someone might take off with the boy and disappear for good, Aidan began looking for one who appeared lost, wishing he knew how old the boy was. Then he spied a woman hurrying a boy about Toby’s age out of the store. He was pulling at her to let him go, his head riveted toward the sound of the two women calling out Joey’s name.
Although suspecting the boy was Joey, Aidan hoped he didn’t accost the wrong woman, a mother leaving the store with her own kid. On the other hand, he didn’t want them to disappear into the mall if she wasn’t the boy’s mother and was attempting to abscond with him.
“Joey!” Aidan called out, his voice much deeper, more commanding, more easily heard above the din of conversations and Christmas music than the women’s, figuring the boy would respond to his name being called, if he was indeed the right boy.
The boy turned and looked straight at him. Aidan was running toward him, but of course the preschooler didn’t recognize him. He did seem to recognize the name. Aidan quickly reached the woman and the boy, catching his bodyguards’ attention, and they both raced to help Aidan.
With the tin of Lincoln Logs still in one hand, Aidan grabbed the woman’s arm with his other hand and stopped her from leaving the store. He quickly asked the boy, “Do you know this woman?”
Eyes wide, the boy shook his head. At the same time, Aidan could smell the boy’s scent—a gray wolf. The woman was human. The boy took a deep breath, his lips parting, and he seemed to realize Aidan was a gray wolf too.
“Are you Joey?” Aidan asked the boy.
He nodded.
Struggling to free herself from Aidan, the woman kept trying to yank her arm out of his firm grasp. She suddenly released the boy and, at the same time, swung her purse at Aidan, striking him on the side of the head. The purse had to be filled with something hard and heavy because the impact knocked him to the side. He lost the tin of Lincoln Logs but continued to hold tight to the woman’s ar
m, wrenching the purse from her grasp and dropping it on the floor.
Aidan’s head was throbbing where the woman had struck him, his vision blurring a bit. Damn it.
Ted and Mike reached him, and Mike quickly grabbed the woman’s arm. Aidan took the boy in hand. Ted had his phone out, ready to call 911. The dark-haired woman’s tan face turned pasty white, and her dark-brown eyes narrowed. “His mother told me to take him to see Santa Claus.”
“Santa Claus is back that way.” Aidan didn’t believe the woman for a second, but he had to be sure. He took Joey by the waist and settled him on his hip, holding him close and in a reassuring manner. “What’s his mother’s name?” he asked the woman, hoping the boy wouldn’t blurt it out, but the boy remained quiet.
“Beth,” the thirtyish woman said.
Aidan asked Joey, “Is that your mother’s name?”
Joey shook his head. Then the boy saw someone coming and smiled. Aidan turned to see two blonds, both blue-eyed and wearing jeans and sweaters, frowning at him, most likely because he was holding on to Joey. Were they wolves too? He suspected they had to be.
The woman appeared to be around thirty, the other an older teen around seventeen or eighteen. Both had the same oval-shaped face, the same full pink lips and narrowed eyes. As much as they looked alike, Aidan assumed they were related. But not to the dark-haired, brown-eyed boy.
Both looked at Aidan’s sweatshirt and frowned even more. Real Men Howl was embroidered across the front of it.
Only another wolf would get the humor.
Chapter 2
“Ohmigod, Joey. I’m so glad you’re safe,” the woman said, drawing close to Aidan, her eyes filled with concern. She was maybe five four or five five, her snow boots adding another inch to her height.
Aidan smelled her feminine floral scent and that she was a gray wolf too, both of which had him pulling in a deeper breath and taking a closer look. She was wearing a blue parka and a glittery white sweater. Her cheeks were a little flushed from trying to chase down the boy. Her blond hair was pulled into a bun, and soft straggles of blond curls framed her pretty face. Her clear blue eyes sparkled under the bright store lights, captivating him.
For a minute, he just stared at her, and then he snapped out of his uncharacteristic fascination with a woman. He was glad she was a wolf, which helped convince him the boy belonged to her or her pack.
She reached for Joey, and though the boy raised his hands out to her, Aidan still didn’t hand him over right away. He had just rescued the boy and wasn’t about to give him to anyone else until he was assured Joey would be safe. “Are you his mother?”
“His mother’s friend.” The woman gave him an annoyed look when he didn’t release Joey to her right away. “My sister was babysitting him, but he got away from us.” Then her eyes widened. She must have smelled that he was also a wolf.
She reached for the boy again.
Aidan still didn’t hand him over. Now it was more a case of learning where these three were from. The Seattle pack? Or another?
Ted was already calling the police about the woman who had tried to leave the store with the little wolf boy. Thank God, she hadn’t managed to leave before Aidan found her and stopped her.
“I’m Dr. Aidan—”
“Denali,” the older blond practically whispered, her eyes wide.
His mouth gaped a little. He would have remembered her if he’d met her before. The way she reacted to knowing who he was… Did that mean it was good news, or bad? “Uh, right.”
“I’m Holly Gray. And this is Marianne, my seventeen-year-old sister.” Now Holly seemed eager to meet him, and Aidan was relieved.
“Dr. Holly Gray,” Marianne said as if she didn’t want Aidan to think her older sister was any less important than him.
She was the doctor Everett had told him about, and a friend of Everett’s sister. “Dr. Holly Gray.” Aidan smiled at both ladies. He handed Joey over to Holly, but Marianne wanted to hold him.
“Everett Johnston mentioned you to me.” Aidan frowned at Holly. “Have we met?”
“You would have remembered my sister if you had met her, you know,” Marianne said, a brow raised, her lips unsmiling as she rested Joey on her hip.
Aidan curbed the urge to laugh at Marianne’s words, though he smiled. “I’m sure I would have.”
Mike was still holding on to the attempted kidnapper. The store security officer was with them now, asking them and the woman questions.
“Have I met you before?” Aidan directed the question to Marianne this time. He was certain he hadn’t met the girl either. He was eager to speak to them further in private, and maybe he could have the doctor’s blood tested if she approved, and—
Marianne shook her head. “We’re from Seattle, you know. Ronald didn’t want us to meet you.”
Aidan’s enthusiasm faltered. He’d hoped they might be more agreeable after he’d saved one of their own.
Holly kept looking at the side of Aidan’s head, and he finally felt blood dribbling down it. The attempted kidnapper must have broken the skin when she bashed him in the head with her purse. The wound was just beginning to throb.
“You…look like you could use a couple of stitches.” Holly pulled some tissues out of her purse and applied pressure to the wound. “Head wounds bleed a lot though.”
Mike and Ted were smiling at him. Yeah, way to get the girl, except she was with the Seattle pack, and that pack had nothing to do with any wolf outsiders. Still, she was taking care of him, maybe because he’d rescued the boy and taken a beating for it. She was so gentle that he really liked her bedside manner.
“Do you live near here?” Holly asked, frowning.
“Not here. In the Klamath Mountains region of California, but we’re visiting here for a couple of weeks.” If it took that long to find Nick. “This is the closest mall we could find to do some Christmas shopping. We have a cabin near Glacier Peak.” Realizing she was still holding the tissues against his wound when she didn’t have to, Aidan reached for them. “I can do that.”
She shook her head. “I’ve got it.”
Doctor to the rescue? Aidan was amused, impressed, and even…attracted to her.
“We’re staying at cabins near there too. Just hold still so I can stop the bleeding. It’s the least I can do after you rescued Joey. I”—she glanced down at his sweatshirt—“like your…sweatshirt, by the way.” She paused. “Are you still doing your research?”
She acted interested, and Aidan thought maybe the pack members had changed their minds. Or maybe, as a doctor, she was a little more curious about the situation than the rest of the pack.
“Yeah, I’m looking for someone who was with your—”
“Holly!” some guy yelled.
Aidan turned to see the man who sounded so hostile.
A dark-haired guy strode toward them, looking from Aidan to her as if he could kill them both for being too physically close to each other. The boyfriend? Her mate?
That’s also how Aidan would expect someone from the Seattle pack to act.
Then again, the situation did look rather intimate as she continued to press the tissues against Aidan’s head and stood resting her body close to his. He couldn’t help but breathe in her fascinating scent and enjoy her sweet Ivory soap, wolf, and womanly fragrance. Embarrassingly, his own body was beginning to react to her closeness. Despite the approaching male and his obvious anger, she didn’t budge from where she stood. He admired her for standing her ground.
The guy who had yelled was still trying to get through the crowd of shoppers, and Aidan asked her, “Your mate?” He’d be disappointed if the guy was, because from the looks of it, he wouldn’t want her to have anything to do with Aidan and his research, while he’d begun to hope she might help him out.
“No. He wanted to be, but we’ve had some major issues of late
.” She didn’t seem to regret that.
Aidan was glad, though he told himself that was only because the guy was being such a jerk. Getting involved with a woman who was with that pack could be a problem, since the pack leader wasn’t allowing anyone in.
As soon as the guy moved into their space and started acting like he was going to pull Holly away, Aidan stiffened, but Holly quickly said, “Cool it, Jared. This nice man rescued Joey from an attempted kidnapper, and the woman gave him a head wound.”
Jared cast a dark smile in Aidan’s direction, as if he was amused the human woman had gotten the best of the wolf who wasn’t in their pack. Jared turned his attention to Holly. “Let’s go.”
“We have to speak with the police. You can go, and I’ll see you later,” Holly said, dismissing him.
Now it was Aidan’s turn to cast Jared a dark smile. He liked a woman who had a mind of her own. He noticed she didn’t offer introductions, and he didn’t bother with them either.
“Like hell you will.” Jared folded his arms, and Aidan figured that was the end of getting to know Holly, even though she didn’t release her hold on the tissues she was still pressing against his head. “Why don’t you let him hold on to that, or is he about to faint?” Jared asked with a snarl.
“He needs to be stitched up,” she said.
Aidan wondered if it was all that bad or she was just making excuses to tick off Jared.
“He can go to the emergency room. He won’t have to worry about it in a couple of days anyway.”
Just then, several police officers burst into the store, while all kinds of shoppers were watching the spectacle.
Aidan explained to the police how he’d heard the women calling for Joey and had seen this dark-haired woman hurrying for the exit, dragging the little boy with her.
